In this article, we explore the 7 Best Stocks to Buy with “Wide Moats”.
Wide-moat stocks are built around a simple idea: some companies have defenses that competitors cannot easily copy, even when the prize is obvious. Morningstar defines a wide economic moat as a competitive advantage expected to last more than 20 years, while VanEck’s Morningstar Wide Moat framework points to five main sources of durability: switching costs, intangible assets, network effects, cost advantages, and efficient scale. In plain market language, these are businesses that do not just grow; they make it unusually difficult for rivals to take away their economics.
That matters in a market where investors are still sorting durable compounders from companies whose growth depends more heavily on cycles, capital availability, or short bursts of investor enthusiasm. A wide moat does not make a stock immune to valuation risk, earnings disappointments, or sector pressure. It does, however, give investors a useful filter for identifying companies with strong pricing power, customer retention, scale benefits, data advantages, or embedded positions inside critical workflows. Morningstar’s 2026 wide-moat coverage continues to highlight that even high-quality businesses can trade at attractive discounts to fair value, making the category relevant for investors looking beyond short-term momentum.
Methodology
For this article, we reviewed U.S.-listed companies widely recognized for durable competitive advantages, using sources such as Morningstar’s economic moat ratings, the wide-moat index holdings, and company-specific moat commentary. We prioritized stocks with clear, long-term advantages such as switching costs, network effects, intangible assets, cost advantages, or entrenched market infrastructure.
From that pool, we selected the stocks that most closely fit the “wide moat” definition while also offering enough business relevance and investor visibility for a broad stock-market audience. Then we ranked them in descending order of open short interest, sourced from stockanalysis.com.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).
7. Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO)
Short Percentage of Float: 6.59%
Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO) is one of the best stocks to buy with wide moats.
The latest moat-relevant update came on April 28, 2026, when Fair Isaac Corporation reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $691.7 million, up 39% year over year, and raised its full-year fiscal 2026 guidance. The company’s Scores segment revenue rose 60% to $475.0 million, while B2B Scores revenue increased 72%, driven mainly by higher mortgage origination scores, unit pricing, and higher mortgage origination volume. Software revenue also rose 7%, with platform software annual recurring revenue up 49% and platform dollar-based net retention at 136%.
That makes the update useful for the wide-moat angle because FICO’s moat is most visible when customers keep paying even as regulators push more credit-score competition into the mortgage market. FHFA said approved lenders may now use either Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0 on an interim basis, while FICO 10T remains approved and planned for future use. Even with that pressure, FICO’s latest quarter showed strong pricing power in its core Scores business.
Fair Isaac Corporation provides analytics software, credit scores, decisioning tools, fraud prevention products, and related data-driven solutions for lenders, financial institutions, insurers, retailers, telecom companies, and other enterprises.
6. Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV)
Short Percentage of Float: 3.89%
Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE:VEEV) is one of the best stocks to buy with wide moats.
The latest moat-relevant update came on May 6, 2026, when Snowflake said it was collaborating with Veeva Systems Inc. to connect the Snowflake AI Data Cloud for Healthcare & Life Sciences with the Veeva Vault Platform. The new Snowflake Openflow Connector for Veeva Vault lets life sciences organizations connect read-only Veeva data into Snowflake for analytics and AI across clinical, safety, regulatory, quality, and commercial data, while keeping validated Veeva documents and data intact.
The update fits the wide-moat angle because Veeva’s strength comes from being embedded inside regulated life sciences workflows where data integrity, compliance, and process continuity matter. Veeva describes Vault as a single platform for data, content, and agents, with Veeva AI Agents having direct, secure access to data, documents, and workflows inside its applications. The Snowflake collaboration extends that system-of-record position into enterprise analytics and AI, making Veeva’s platform more useful without forcing customers to move core regulated data out of Vault.
Veeva Systems Inc. provides cloud-based software, data, analytics, AI tools, and workflow applications for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and other life sciences companies.
5. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)
Short Percentage of Float: 1.36%
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is one of the best stocks to buy with wide moats.
The latest moat-relevant update came on May 5, 2026, when Visa Inc. expanded its Agentic Ready program to issuers in Canada, extending a global effort meant to prepare banks and payment partners for AI agent-initiated commerce. The program lets participants test agent-led payments in controlled environments with live cards and merchants, while validating payment flows, including card enrollment, tokenization, authentication, and authorization.
siam sompunya
The update fits Visa’s wide-moat profile because its advantage is rooted in its trusted payment infrastructure and network effects. Morningstar uses Visa as an example of network effects, where more card users make the network more attractive to merchants, which in turn makes it more useful to consumers. Visa’s latest results also showed that the existing network is still growing: on April 28, the company reported fiscal second-quarter net revenue of $11.2 billion, up 17%, with payments volume up 9%, cross-border volume up 12%, and processed transactions up 9%.
Visa Inc. operates a global digital payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, strategic partners, and governments across more than 200 countries and territories.
4. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Short Percentage of Float: 1.22%
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the best stocks to buy with wide moats.
The latest moat-relevant update came on May 7, 2026, when NVIDIA Corporation and IREN announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the deployment of up to 5 gigawatts of NVIDIA DSX-aligned AI infrastructure across IREN’s global data-center pipeline. The companies said future deployments are expected to focus on IREN’s 2-gigawatt Sweetwater campus in Texas, which is planned as a flagship deployment for NVIDIA’s DSX architecture. As part of the deal, IREN also issued NVIDIA a five-year right to purchase up to 30 million shares at $70 per share, giving NVIDIA the right to invest up to $2.1 billion, subject to conditions.
The update fits the wide-moat angle because NVIDIA’s advantage increasingly extends beyond selling GPUs to encompass a broader AI infrastructure stack. The companies framed DSX around accelerated compute, AI factories, networking, software, power, and operations, which reinforces NVIDIA’s role as an architecture provider rather than just a component supplier. Morningstar also assigns NVIDIA a wide economic moat, citing its leadership across GPUs, hardware, software, and networking tools needed for AI workloads.
NVIDIA Corporation develops graphics processors, accelerated computing platforms, AI infrastructure, networking products, software, and related technologies for data centers, gaming, professional visualization, automotive, robotics, and other markets.
3. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Short Percentage of Float: 1.21%
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the best stocks to buy with wide moats.
The latest moat-relevant update came on May 5, 2026, when Reuters reported that Meta Platforms, Inc. argued against a potential EU order that would require it to give rival AI chatbots free access to WhatsApp. The dispute followed Meta’s January policy allowing only Meta AI on WhatsApp, later amended in March to let rivals use the messaging app for a fee. While regulatory pressure is a risk, the case also highlights why WhatsApp is strategically important: access to Meta’s messaging network has become valuable enough for AI companies and regulators to fight over.
That fits the wide-moat case because Meta’s advantage is built on network effects, user data, and advertising technology across its Family of Apps. Morningstar says Meta merits a wide economic moat because of intangible assets and the network effect around Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. The moat also showed up in first-quarter results reported on April 29, when revenue rose 33% to $56.31 billion, ad impressions increased 19%, and average Family daily active people reached 3.56 billion in March.
Meta Platforms, Inc. operates Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Threads, advertising technology, AI products, virtual and augmented reality platforms, and related digital services.
2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Short Percentage of Float: 1.12%
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the best stocks to buy with wide moats.
The latest moat-relevant update came on April 29, 2026, when Microsoft Corporation reported fiscal third-quarter results that showed how deeply its cloud and productivity franchises remain embedded in enterprise spending. Microsoft Cloud revenue rose 29% to $54.5 billion, while commercial remaining performance obligation jumped 99% to $627 billion, pointing to a large base of contracted future revenue. Azure and other cloud services revenue increased 40%, while Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud revenue rose 19%.
The results fit the wide-moat case because Microsoft’s advantage is not tied to one product line. Morningstar has described Microsoft’s moat as primarily driven by switching costs, with network effects and cost advantage as secondary sources, helped by the breadth and integration of its applications. That showed up again in the quarter, as Microsoft said paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats were now over 20 million, with ARPU growth led by both E5 and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Microsoft Corporation develops software, cloud infrastructure, productivity tools, operating systems, business applications, gaming products, and AI services for consumers, enterprises, developers, and public-sector customers.
1. S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)
Short Percentage of Float: 1.03%
S&P Global Inc. is one of the best stocks to buy with wide moats.
The latest moat-relevant update came on May 7, 2026, when S&P Global Inc. filed the Form 10 registration statement for the planned separation of its Mobility division into an independent public company, Mobility Global Inc. The company said it expects to complete the separation in mid-2026, subject to customary approvals. Mobility Global includes automotive data and intelligence brands such as CARFAX, Polk Automotive Solutions, automotiveMastermind, and Market Scan.
The separation fits the wide-moat angle because it leaves S&P Global’s core story more tightly centered on financial data, ratings, benchmarks, indices, and commodity intelligence. Morningstar says S&P Global has a wide economic moat based on intangible assets and network effects, with embedded benchmarks across credit ratings, financial indexes, and commodity price reporting. Morningstar also notes that its ratings, indexes, and energy segments are relatively insulated from AI disruption, while existing Market Intelligence customers face switching costs.
That durability also showed up in first-quarter results reported on April 28, 2026, when revenue rose 10% to $4.171 billion, adjusted diluted EPS increased 14% to $4.97, and adjusted operating margin expanded 100 basis points to 51.8%.
S&P Global Inc. provides credit ratings, benchmarks, indices, market intelligence, commodity data, analytics, and financial information services for businesses, governments, investors, and institutions.
READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Hedge Fund Resource Center